Posts Tagged ‘New Release’

Flexibits has released a version of its gorgeous and highly functional calendar app for iPad. Fantastical 2 for iPad debuted in the App Store this morning and offers the same natural language event creation feature that debuted in the Mac version plus the ability to display a month, list, and “day ticker” view all at once on the tablet’s larger screen.

Compared to the iPad’s stock Calendar app, Fantastical lets you see so much more at once in portrait or landscape mode. It even offers Reminders integration so you can create and edit Reminders and and see Reminders with due dates in any of the available views.

Here’s a promo video showing Fantastical 2 for iPad in action:

As shown in the promo video, scrolling through any of the elements in the Dashboard advances the other views as well, so you can quickly get a snapshot of an entire week when you select a specific day or list item. To create events, you can simply type (or dictate, if you have a dictation-compatible iPad) something like “Lunch with mom on Saturday” and Fantastical will create an event titled “Lunch with mom” at noon on the upcoming Saturday.

The Mac version of Fantastical first debuted in 2011 and it quickly became my preferred way to create and view events on my Mac. The iPhone version was released in late 2012 and it prompted me to move the stock Calendar app to a folder buried on a seldom-visited home page on every iPhone I’ve owned since it became available. Since then, Fantastical for iPhone and Mac has only gotten better and I’m thrilled to have it on my iPad now. If you’re looking for a highly functional and easy-to-use app to manage your calendar and reminders on your iPad, I highly recommend Fantastical. It’s on sale now at a special introductory price of $9.99 and will go up to its regular price of $14.99 soon, so go get it now before the price goes up!

Microsoft released its staple office applications – Word, PowerPoint, and Excel – in Apple’s App Store yesterday. The apps are free to download and use to view existing documents though document creation and editing require an Office 365 subscription, which costs $99 per year and allows use of the apps on up to five iPads.

Microsoft created this promo video to highlight the features of the new apps:

If you’ve been waiting for Microsoft Office to come to the iPad, this should make you one happy camper. I’m personally disappointed that a subscription is needed to create and edit documents and would much rather pay a one-time fee to get full use of the apps. However, Microsoft did make full use of the Office Mobile app for iPhone free with the release of the iPad apps, so that’s a bit of a consolation. You can download Microsoft Office Mobile for free and while you still need a free Microsoft account to use it, you won’t be spending any of your hard-earned cash to create and edit documents with it.

I’m intrigued by devices that you let you accomplish tasks that normally require your presence through a smartphone from anywhere in the world. Like the Nest thermostat that lets you adjust the temperature in your home or the Scanomat TopBrewer coffee maker that can make a latte for you, all through your iPhone. So Skybell, a doorbell with a built-in camera that will let you see and speak to whomever is at your front door, caught my eye and its companion iPhone app is now available in the App Store.

The SkyBell Doorbell app can automatically notify you when the SkyBell doorbell device senses motion at your front door or if someone rings the doorbell. Through the app, you can hear or speak to anyone there or simply pull up the live video feed if you just want to see what’s going on. Here’s the promo video showing SkyBell in action:

Skybell was first publicized through Indiegogo last fall where its creators started a campaign to raise funds to manufacture it. The project easily surpassed its funding goal though it seems to be experiencing the manufacturing and delivery delays common to new products with crowd-sourced funding. However, the appearance of the SkyBell Doorbell companion app in Apple’s App Store is surely a welcome sign for those who have ordered the product.

The SkyBell Doorbell app is free and works only with the SkyBell smart doorbell, which will set you back $199 unless you managed to order a discounted one through the Indiegogo campaign last year. You can order a SkyBell doorbell directly from the SkyBell site or through Amazon. If you get one, let us know how it works!

Are you tired of entering your password to unlock your Mac? Or do you even forego setting up a password for your Mac to avoid the hassle of unlocking it? If you’re like me and tend to carry your iPhone with you everywhere, developer Knock Software released today a unique solution to unlock your Mac using a simple gesture and your iPhone and doesn’t require you to touch your keyboard.

With Knock installed on your iPhone, along with the free companion app for your Mac, all you need to do is knock twice on your iPhone to unlock your Mac. Sounds crazy easy, right? It is and it does work. Here’s a cute promo video for it:

How does it work? The answer is through the magic of Bluetooth Low Energy, a Bluetooth protocol present in Apple’s newest Macs and iOS devices. Through Bluetooth and the Knock app, your Mac will recognize when your iPhone is nearby. When you knock on your iPhone, this signals to Knock to unlock your Mac and it enters your password on your behalf. It works even if your iPhone itself is locked and is in your purse or pocket.

Setting up Knock is easy and the apps will walk you through the process which takes a minute or two. Once you’ve got it set up, Knock will remain active in your Mac’s menu bar to detect your iPhone and enter your password when you knock on it.

Click to enlarge

Knock is similar to Keycard, a Mac app I reviewed that pairs with your iPhone via Bluetooth and automatically locks it when you (and your iPhone) get out of Bluetooth range and unlocks it when you get back to your Mac. However, Knock is different in one key way – you have to prompt it intentionally, whereas Keycard relies only on the proximity of your iPhone to your Mac, which could result in unintentional locking or unlocking.

To use Knock you’ll need both a newer Mac and iOS device that have a Bluetooth 4.0 radio. For guidance on which Macs will work, check out Knock Software’s FAQ.

You can get the Knock app for your Mac for free straight from Knock Software’s site and you can get the iPhone app, which costs $3.99, from the App Store through the link below.

At its media event today, Apple announced that OS X Mavericks, the latest version of the Mac operating system first previewed at WWDC in June., will be available for download today in the Mac App Store for free.

Mavericks is an incredible release, which introduces significant new apps and features, while also improving the performance and battery life of your Mac,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “We want every Mac user to experience the latest features, the most advanced technologies, and the strongest security. We believe the best way to do this is to begin a new era of personal computing software where OS upgrades are free.

Mavericks includes multiple features to improve battery life on Apple’s line of mobile computers as well as enhanced graphics handling, Finder capabilities, multi-monitor support, and more.

iBooks and Maps will come to the Mac in Mavericks and other existing apps have been redesigned and offer integration with iOS devices.

Previous versions of Apple’s Macintosh operating systems were priced at $29 in recent years and the change to $0 for Mavericks is a significant one for Apple. For additional information on the technical specs for Mavericks and compatible computer models, see this page.

Clear features an icon, fonts, and interface aligned with iOS 7’s flatter style while still keeping the gestural navigation goodness it’s had from day one. On the iPad, the larger screen allows list names and their contents to be shown at the same time and you can drag and drop items from one list to another or even peek at the contents of another list by pulling down on the list name with two fingers.

Clear remains one of my favorite apps for shopping and to do lists and holds prime, front page real estate on my iPhone (and now on my iPad). If you’re looking for a full-on tasks lists with reminders, the ability to tag list items, sort them automatically, or other fancy stuff, you should look elsewhere. Clear is all about simplicity and straightforwardness in letting you create and edit lists quickly through a gorgeous interface.

Click to enlarge

The iPhone-only version of Clear is still in the App Store and costs $.99 so if you don’t have an iPad and don’t see one in your immediate future, it should do you just fine. If you have an iPad, I recommend you pony up the $2.99 for the new version since Clear handily uses iCloud to synchronize everything between all of your devices and it’s so nice to access your lists no matter what device you’re using at the moment. If you purchased Clear for iPhone previously, you may be feeling a little betrayed by the appearance of this separate app that you have to buy again but Realmac put a lot of work into it and it’s worth it (and probably less than your morning coffee, to boot).

If you check out the App Store’s Weather category, you’ll find hundreds of iPhone and iPad apps with the goal of telling you what the weather’s like. Some give you painstaking detail while others give you a bare minimum of information but look really pretty while doing it and there’s bound to be one already available that tickles your fancy. So why do developers keep making new weather apps given the hundreds already available? Contrast’s founder, David Barnard, answered this very question in the press kit for Perfect Weather:

With hundreds of weather apps crowding the App Store, why build another? Because I live in Texas! Most weather apps cater to the idyllic climate in Silicon Valley. I needed something different, so I enlisted the help of a couple friends and built my perfect weather app.

In places like Texas, where big thunderstorms and surprise rain showers are common, the current temperature is often immaterial. We came up with a split view that makes it easy to check the forecast and weather map at a glance. And to get me through the hot Texas summers, we built an interactive temperature chart that gives the time of the high and low temperature as well as the hourly forecast.

Like Apple’s own Weather app, Perfect Weather can save multiple locations so you can easily access weather information for several US cities. On a city’s page, you can see a lot of information at a single glance, including the predicted high and low temperatures for today and the chance of precipitation, the weekly forecast, and even a radar view showing cloud cover or rain. Also shown is a graph that displays the temperature variations for the current day, which you can slide your finger along to see the predicted temperature for a specific time, much like Weathertron. Swiping to the left on this graph reveals even more information like humidity, pressure, and sunrise and sunset times.

Click to enlarge

Swiping up on the information tab reveals more of the radar map, where you can choose to view rain or cloud cover and activate animation to show how each is moving across the area. Tapping on the lightning symbol in the top left corner reveals any NOAA weather alerts.

Here’s a promotional video showing Perfect Weather in action:

I’ve lost count of how many weather apps I’ve tried since the App Store opened in 2008, which means that my iPhone weather app needs are more complex than I ever expected. After trying out Perfect Weather for several days now, I find it to be only just shy of perfect for my needs. The two bits of weather information I want most often are the current temperature (to gauge immediate dog walking conditions and how to dress accordingly) and the forecast for the next week. Those are easy to see with Perfect Weather but I’ve gotten used to one feature it doesn’t offer but ITWC Association’s Fahrenheit does: a push notification badge that shows the current temperature on the iPhone’s home screen. Call me lazy, but it’s incredibly useful for me to be able to see this at a glance without even needing to open an app.

Your weather app needs are probably different than mine and if you’re looking for all of the basic weather information that’s easy to see at a quick glance and the ability to dive deeper to see radar information and NOAA weather alerts, I recommend Perfect Weather. If it doesn’t meet every single one of your needs, it will probably meet most.

A beautifully balanced view of the weather. Perfect Weather was designed for use in the United States. Some weather apps are overloaded with information. Others are designed to be pretty rather than...

The sequel to Popcap’s incredibly popular tower defense game, Plants vs. Zombies has arrived. Plants vs. Zombies 2 features many of the same lovable and deadly plants from the first game along with new plants, zombies, power ups, and locations.

Here’s the official Plants vs. Zombies 2 trailer that gives some brief peeks of some of the new plants and other features:

Plants vs. Zombies 2 is free to download so there’s nothing standing in your way of getting it even if you’re watching your budget. If you still want more details before you dive in, check out the review over at TouchArcade where it’s earned five stars and deemed a “fantastic” sequel to the first version, which also earned five stars.

I just downloaded Plants vs. Zombies 2 this morning and am looking forward to playing it later (I shake my fist at you, work!). I absolutely loved the first version and expect to adore the sequel as well.

Though there are several unofficial Imgur apps available in the App Store today, Imgur has just released its own official app. If you’re not already familiar with Imgur, it’s truly one of the best sites to facilitate procrastination and get a good laugh on the internet today.

Anyone can upload pictures anonymously to Imgur and you can choose to share the images you upload through social networking services (though if you do that, it’s no so anonymous anymore). Others can comment on pictures and like or dislike them and the most popular images are shown on Imgur’s home page. Imgur says that more than 1 million images are uploaded every day.

The universal Imgur app is available in the App Store now and is free to download.

Realmac Software, one of the developers of the popular list app Clear for iPhone and Mac, has released Ember for Mac. Ember is a digital scrapbooking app that lets you save, organize, and share images from the web or just about any other source. Ember is the new version of LittleSnapper, an app with similar functionality that originally debuted in the Mac App Store in early 2011.

If you were a LittleSnapper user, you can import that library right into Ember so you won’t lose anything you’d collected or worked on before. You can save images from the web or another application from your Mac. Realmac offers extensions for Chrome and Safari to make saving images to Ember even easier without leaving your web browser. You can even save screenshots and Ember will automatically recognize and sort those captured on your iPhone or iPad.

You can tag and group your saved images into Collections for easier reference later and you can even do basic editing to annotate, rotate, and crop saved images. Say you’re looking for a perfect outfit for a special occasion and you’ve come across several possibilities online – with Ember you can save images of all of them, add notes on where you found them or accessories you have in mind, and group them into a single category to keep them all in one place. Think of Ember as similar to Pinterest but more powerful and less public (unless you choose to share your collected images via Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other built-in sharing options).

Here’s a promotional video showing Ember in action:

I got a chance to check out Ember before its release and it’s dead simple to save images and tag and organize them. I don’t consider myself a fashionista but I do come across clothing and shoes (mostly boots, which are my weakness) online that I’d like to save and Ember is perfect for this. My only wish is for some sort of cloud synchronization to save your Ember library between multiple Macs automatically, though I imagine this could get unwieldy when large images are involved.

Ember is available now in the Mac App Store for $49.99. If you’re a designer or creative professional or simply into digital scrapbooking, Ember is a great way to save and organize your digital images.